"As the U.S. Navy expands its aircraft fleet with the fourth-generation F/A-18E/F Block III Super Hornet and fifth-gen F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, a challenge remains: How will the jets connect and share information without sacrificing stealth?...

...The company [BOING!] noted the Block III isn't meant to be a direct competitor to the F-35 Lightning II; it's meant to be its partner.... the two aircraft currently don't have a way to communicate without compromising the F-35's stealth....

..."It's fairly a statement of the obvious: F-35's challenge is they need to stay sneaky, and they need to transmit. Those can be [incompatible] to each other. So how do we solve that? So we're trying to offer as many options as we can to plug into, and we're talking about this going forward," he [Capt. David Kindley, F/A-18 and EA-18G program manager] said.

Even if the F/A-18 -- now undergoing modifications to give it upgraded stealth capabilities -- is a little less detectable from enemy radar, the F-35 would likely lead the charge in a heavy surface-to-air missile environment. "We're not going to send Super Hornets into the heart of an IADS [Integrated Air Defense System]," Kindley said. "But that's always a trade-off we're going to have to work on."...

..."There's a whole discussion ongoing within [the Defense Department] on how you link F-35s, all aircraft together," said Bob Kornegay, senior manager of business development for the F/A-18E/F and EA-18G at Boeing. Interoperability is at the heart of how a strike wing will operate in the future, Kindley added....

...Trump in recent months has repeatedly cited a desire to see Boeing build a stealthy F/A-18 Super Hornet and potentially scale back F-35 production from competitor Lockheed Martin Corp. "It's the collection of things together: next-generation fighter, we've delivered 100 percent of our airplanes on time, on cost, and that resonates with this administration," Gillian said." [ROFL] [Has BOING! been doing this for decades? What a head start for LRIP F-35s.]

"Two Boeing F/A-18E/Fs have demonstrated a sensor fusion capability that combines the data from multiple sensors on both aircraft in near real-time as the programme launches production of the Block III version of the 20-year-old, carrier-based fighter, says Bob Kornegay, business development manager for the F/A-18E/F and EA-18G Programs at Boeing.

Lockheed Martin’s F-35 is most often associated with a sensor fusion capability that dramatically improves the data available to any single pilot in a strike package, but the F/A-18E/F fleet has been steadily catching up to its stealthy, sister aircraft’s most advanced capabilities.

The Block II version of the F/A-18E/F introduced a decade ago included a multi-sensor integration function, but it was limited to the two primary sensors – Raytheon’s APG-79 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar and the Harris ALQ-214 countermeasure system – on a single aircraft only....

...The Block III upgrade package includes a range of structural and sensor upgrades, but it crucially adds an ability to receive and transfer large amounts of sensor data with other Super Hornets and the Northrop Grumman E-2D Advanced Hawkeye.

The Block III version also adds a second-generation infrared search and track (IRST) sensor, allowing the Super Hornet to detect and track enemy aircraft without giving away its own position by using its radar. The IRST is able to detect even targets stealthy to radar at long ranges, but a single sensor on one aircraft does not provide enough clarity to provide targeting information to a guided missile.

But the Block III package also adds the Rockwell Collins Tactical Targeting Network Technology (TTNT) radio and an advanced processor. Those upgrades allow two or more F/A-18E/Fs to share IRST sensor data, giving a single fighter enough information to use for a targeting solution, Kornegay says...."

spazsinbad wrote:"Is this a new iteration of the F-16 Auto GCAS?..." NO. Read the article - it clearly states:

"...Instead of building a new system from scratch or porting over the Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (Auto-GCAS), ... the joint Boeing-Navy team plans to upgrade the existing Terrain Awareness Warning System (TAWS) on the F/A-18 Super Hornet, Kindley said....

...Boeing will likely develop the software, while the government will be responsible for testing it, he added...."

You mistunderstood my question, I was not talking about the system on the SH but the systems on F-16 and F-35:

Auto GCAS was developed by an Air Force Research Laboratory-led team including the Office of the Secretary of Defense, NASA, Air Combat Command, Air Force Test Center, and Lockheed Martin. Flight testing of the system on Lockheed’s F-35 is scheduled to begin in September at Edwards AFB, California, following the decision to accelerate implementation on the new fighter.

So to clarify my question: Is the Auto CGAS system on the F-35 a further development of the F-16 Auto GCAS? Or is the F-35 Auto CGAS a new one?

" [HOW IT WORKS THEN]...The anti-collision software was developed at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio and after years of testing and improvements made to digital mapping technology, the system became operational when it was installed on F-16s in 2014. Since then, seven pilots and six F-16 aircraft have credited AutoGCAS with lives and equipment. As the first recorded save happened just four months after completion of testing, the F-35 Joint Program Office has placed a premium on the quickest possible implementation of Auto-GCAS. “Our acquisition team is working with the warfighters to ensure Auto-GCAS is in every F-35,” said Vice Adm. Mat Winter, F-35 Program Executive Officer. “Expediting this lifesaving technology into the F-35 fleet by 2019 is estimated to prevent the loss of three aircraft, and more importantly, save the lives of three pilots. Over the service life of the F-35 fleet, having Auto-GCAS is estimated to prevent more than 26 ground collisions from happening.”

Currently, F-35s are equipped with an earlier version of the software that provides pilots with a Manual Ground Collision Avoidance System (MGCAS). With this system, a pilot must be able to hear, see, process, and heed the MGCAS warning, and manually fly the aircraft away from the ground. If a pilot becomes disoriented or incapacitated, he or she may not be able to respond to MGCAS warnings, and their chances of survival severely deteriorate.

Now that Auto-GCAS technology is mature and operational on other aircraft, engineers and program managers from the F-35 Joint Program Office, AFRL, and Lockheed Martin were able to confirm this capability was ready to enter a rapid integration process on the F-35...."

June 11 (UPI) -- Pentagon officials have announced a new modified contract with Boeing for the manufacture and delivery of F/A-18 Super Hornet variants.

The contract, from Naval Air Systems Command and announced on Friday, is valued at more than $862.2 million and enables Boeing to provide 15 F/A-18E and three F/A-18F aircraft for the U.S. Navy, according to the Defense Department.

Work on the contract will occur in multiple locations across the United States, as well as Canada, and is expected to be complete in June 2020.

The total cumulative value of the contract will be obligated to Boeing at time of award -- the funds will be allocated from Navy fiscal 2018 aircraft procurement funds, the Pentagon said.

None of the obligated funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.

"...According to a June 8 Defense Department announcement, Naval Air Systems Command awarded an $862.2 million contract modification for fiscal 2018 for 15 single-seat F/A-18E and three two-seat F/A-18F strike fighters in Lot 42 of the program....

...The fiscal 2019 plans call for the production to switch to the Block III configuration, beginning with the last six Super Hornets of the 2019 orders, said Dan Gillian, Boeing’s vice president of F/A-18 and EA-18 Programs for Strike, Surveillance and Mobility, speaking to reporters May 23 in Arlington, Virginia. Other Block III versions will be made by upgrading existing Block II versions beginning in 2022.

The Block III features structural and mission system improvements that will increase range, improve situational awareness and increase net-enabled warfighting, making the Super Hornet more lethal and able to increase the lethality of other platforms in a carrier air wing and a carrier strike group.

“Our requirement is to deliver one squadron of Block III Super Hornets to each carrier air wing by 2024, with a second squadron per carrier air wing by 2027,” he said. “The Navy’s future force structure has all Block III Super Hornets and F-35s.” Boeing plans to build two Super Hornets per month through 2025."

Can't the F-35 use a Sat Com to relay info back to the fleet and then have that info sent to the Rhinos. Satelite would seem to be pretty stealthy direction and focus wise. Or maybe the Triton will get a relay mission like golbal hawk.